Introducing myself
I have been involved in environmental education for over 30 years, beginning as a Geography teacher, then in community and schools education through the Wimmera Community Waterwatch program. Since that program ended, and not wanting to leave home, family and the region, I now freelance looking for projects and funding them, to bring the bigger world to schools and the community here in the Wimmera. It is really hard to find funding for projects, but I have been lucky with some small grants each year so far. The web allows me to share more of what I can do with a wider connected community and hence my two websites keep me employed (but unpaid) creating activities to supporting national and international projects each year!
What motivates me?
hint – I love the logo “living in harmony with nature“ for theUNDB 2011-2020.
I wrote about my ‘philosophical bent’ on this first website in 2010.
Some of my recent journey is on-line:
- the strange colours of the Lower Wimmera River at Jeparit at the end of the decade of drought in 2009
- and the linked media release I wrote ” A French Eye on the Wimmera” in summer 2009
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my 2010 environmental education program for the International Year of Biodiversity with Jeparit Primary School’s senior class in 2010 , which also included the Senior class entering the Science Talent Search competitions with science picture story books
- I was delighted to be able to present aspects of the Yaapeet Primary School IYF 2011 program to the Australian Environmental Educators Conference in October 2012 under the theme of “Children Interconnecting with Nature“.
- and I ran an environmental Science program for Yaapeet Primary School in 2011 also focussed on these International Years locally in the school yard and around the town. Reports of some of these activities can be found in the school online newsletters – Yabba. Three of the Science Talent Search projects which the children created can be found on the school website also.
- my 2011 International Years of Forests and Of Chemistry project in the Lower Wimmera for small Primary Schools linking National Science and National Water Week – “pH, salinity and the Trees”
- my session for the Brisbane World Environmental Education Congress 2011 was based on Jeparit Primary School and the River Red Gum Woodland
- In 2012, I looked for ways that environmental education can incorporate the National Year of Reading and the Australian Year of the Farmer with the UNDB. These projects have all contributed activities to National Science Week in teh Wimmera. They were supported by some funding from:
- Inspiring Australia for the read4Nature program at 8 WRLC libraries
- Australian Science Teachers Association for a complementary program at the Jeparit Primary School for the read4Nature program using the MARC van resources which go to over a dozen small schools
- DEECD SPP funding through Wimmera HUB for the Lower Wimmera Environmental Education Project provided to St Joseph’s Primary School and half a dozen small schools as in-class PD on the theme “Sustainability in our Farmland Environment” and introducing the Science Talent Search Creative Writing ( Science based Picture Books) . St Joseph’s PS has put up the farming research and their six Picture Books on the school website.
- 2013 and Mathematics of Planet Earth (as a partner) ,
- 2014 Couldn’t not do this! It brings two important parts of me together in its slogan: Feeding the World (living on a small farm) and Caring for the Earth (environmental education) and has now got its own website featuring Family farm Snapshots. This is now a decade program of the UN – the IYFF+10
- 2015 is Couldn’t not do this either! Healthy soils for a healthy life is its slogan. It too has its own website, featuring Soil Selfies, which were displayed in Berlin, Speed, Horsham and used for the Soil Education program .
Page updated 2 September 2015